Taoka's Tactics, Completely Crushed!

If Shirakawa's first ultra-long fadeaway three had merely cracked Akira Sendoh's worldview,

then the second miracle shot, tossed like a drunk throwing a bottle,

utterly, thunderously, smashed that worldview to pieces.

Not even scraps remained.

Akira Sendoh stood rooted to the spot, his eyes vacant.

He felt his limbs turning cold.

An unprecedented emotion called "despair" engulfed him completely like icy seawater.

It was useless.

Everything was useless.

No matter how he defended, no matter how hard he tried, he could not stop that man from scoring.

His defense was like a thin sheet of window paper before him, torn through with a single poke.

His pride, his confidence, his philosophy of basketball—all of it was trampled into worthlessness at that moment.

"Sendoh... Sendoh!"

Jun Uozumi anxiously shook his shoulders, but Sendoh was like a broken puppet, utterly unresponsive.

His spirit had been completely crushed.

"Tweet—!"

Just then, a shrill whistle rang throughout the arena.

Ryonan called a timeout.

Coach Taoka rose from his seat, his face deathly pale. Looking at the shattered Sendoh, then at the composed Shirakawa across the court, he felt fear for the first time.

Over his many years of coaching, he had seen countless prodigies.

But he had never seen a... monster like Shirakawa.

A true monster who could not be judged by common sense at all.

The Ryonan players walked off the court with their heads hanging low. The entire bench area was deathly silent.

"Coach..." Jun Uozumi looked at Taoka and asked in a hoarse voice, "What... what should we do?"

What should we do?

How the hell would I know what to do?!

Coach Taoka roared inwardly.

Every tactic, every plan he had, had become a joke in front of that Number 1.

Man-to-man? Sendoh had already been beaten into a shell.

Double-team? The first half had already proven that it would only let him make even deadlier passes.

Zone defense? What use was zone defense against such unreasonable shooting? Were all five players supposed to rush him at once?

Coach Taoka felt as though his brain had turned into mush.

He looked at the tactics board. The densely packed symbols on it seemed so pale and powerless at that moment.

"Coach..."

Looking at the bewildered, despairing eyes of his players, Coach Taoka knew he could not collapse.

He was the backbone of this team.

If even he gave up, then Ryonan would truly be finished.

He took a deep breath and forcibly calmed himself.

"D-Don't panic!"

He picked up his marker, though his hand trembled slightly.

"That Number 1 is indeed strong. Strong like a monster."

"But he isn't a god!"

"He can't possibly maintain that shooting percentage forever!"

"Shots like those must consume an enormous amount of stamina!"

"In the second half, what we need to do is..."

Coach Taoka's mind raced.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He thought of a solution that barely counted as one.

"Box-and-one!"

He heavily drew a box and a dot on the tactics board.

"Four of us will play zone defense and protect the paint and the three-point line!"

"Then we'll send one person to shadow that Number 1 exclusively!"

"Not to stop him, but to wear him down!"

"Sendoh!" Coach Taoka looked at Sendoh. "This task can only be entrusted to you!"

"From now on, don't worry about anything else. Stick to him! Don't let him receive the ball easily! Even if he gets it, keep harassing him, use physical contact, drain his stamina!"

"I refuse to believe he can shoot like that for an entire game!"

This tactic could be called Coach Taoka's final—and only—gamble.

He was betting that Shirakawa's stamina would not hold out.

He was betting that Shirakawa's miracles had a time limit.

After hearing his coach's instructions, a trace of life finally returned to Akira Sendoh's hollow eyes.

Wear him down?

Play him tight?

Yes...

Perhaps this was the only way.

Even if he could not stop him from scoring, he would still make him pay dearly!

"I understand, Coach."

Sendoh's voice was hoarse, but filled with resolve.

"Leave him to me."

On the other side, at Shohoku's bench.

The atmosphere was completely different from Ryonan's.

"Wahahahaha! Did you see that?! Lord Shirakawa is incredible!" Hanamichi Sakuragi waved a towel and bounced around Shirakawa like a madman.

"Shut up, idiot. You're too loud," Kaede Rukawa said coldly, though his gaze never left Shirakawa.

"Shirakawa, just how many more tricks have you been hiding?" Ryota Miyagi looked at him with reverence.

Shirakawa took a drink of water and shrugged. "I told you, it's routine. What's there to make such a fuss about?"

Everyone: "..."

Yeah right, as if we'd believe that!

Coach Anzai walked over with a warm smile and patted Shirakawa on the shoulder.

"Shirakawa, you played very well."

"However, they called a timeout, so they will definitely make adjustments aimed at you."

"The second half probably won't be so easy."

Shirakawa smiled at that.

"Heh, Coach, don't worry."

His gaze passed through the crowd toward Ryonan's bench, toward the Number 7 staring at him with icy eyes.

"No matter what tactics they use."

"There is only one outcome before me."

"That is, being completely crushed!"

The timeout ended, and the game resumed.

Sure enough, Ryonan switched to a box-and-one defense.

Akira Sendoh stuck to Shirakawa like glue, constantly using his body to harass him with little dirty moves from the moment he received the ball.

"Oh? Finally done playing the gentleman and started getting dirty?" Shirakawa smiled as he felt the shoves against his body.

"As long as we can win, it doesn't matter what method we use," Sendoh said coldly.

"Is that so?"

A teasing smile curved Shirakawa's lips.

"Then you may be disappointed."

Before his words even faded, Shirakawa suddenly accelerated!

Sendoh's heart jolted, and he immediately followed!

Yet at the instant Shirakawa took off, he came to a sudden stop, then dribbled behind his back and passed the ball out!

As if it had eyes, the basketball pierced through Ryonan's entire defensive formation and flew precisely to the forty-five-degree angle on the other side!

A figure had already been waiting there for a long time!

It was Kaede Rukawa!

Because Ryonan's four-man zone had all collapsed toward the paint and Shirakawa's side, a huge, wide-open, undefended space had appeared on Rukawa's side!

Rukawa caught the ball, and nothing stood in front of him!

He even had time to calmly adjust his posture.

Then he jumped and released the shot.

The movement was picture-perfect.

"Swish!"

Nothing but net!

Three-pointer!

47:37!

For the first time, the lead had reached double digits!

Coach Taoka stared blankly at the scoreboard as all color instantly drained from his face.

His final tactic, his final hope...

On the very first possession after the game resumed,

had been crushed completely

by the simplest, cruelest method possible.